by Patrick L. Cahalan

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Cemeteries

Cemeteries have always held a fascination for me. Beyond the obvious of being a reminder of our own mortality, I’ve found them to often be quite beautiful as well. I’ve long held that I’d rather be sick and getting better in a cemetery than in a hospital (after all, it’s the hospital where the dying happens, not the graveyard!)

But cemeteries, particularly older ones, are fascinating to me. More modern ones tend to be somewhat dull, with flat markers and not much style.

But the older, ornate stuff can be VERY impressive in both size –

Mausoleum at Mtn View Cemetery, Oakland CA

– and in detail

Broken Eyed Statue

As usual, the real fun is in the high-rent district of the memorials, and often the ones of atypical ethnic background are the most striking, as in these 2 cases.

Italian Family CryptBuddha Marker

War memorials and veteran sections can also be photographed well, given their symmetry and regularity

Civil War Dead

And some stuff that would NEVER make it on a marker today!

Racist Much?

Mausoleums can be fun as well, seeing these two examples

MausoleumMausoleum Rotunda

And statuary

Michaelangelo

As you’ve probably guessed, I’m a fan of using infrared for cemeteries. The aged, haunted look – in my opinion – lends itself to the subject matter nicely.

Celtic Cross, Colma CA

But color can be great too! Which is hence my next post, about photographing stained glass windows.